UN 'disturbed' by Musk suspending journalists on Twitter
The accounts of several high-profile journalists were suspended on for doxxing - and the UN does not agree with it.
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UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric
The United Nations on Friday disagreed with Elon Musk on suspending a number of journalists from Twitter after a scandal arose regarding sharing private information about Musk's whereabouts.
"We are very disturbed by the arbitrary suspension of accounts of journalists that we saw on Twitter. Media voices should not be silenced on a platform that professes to give space for freedom of speech," said spokesman Stephane Dujarric in a briefing.
Dujarric argued that the move is a 'dangerous precedent' at a time when journalists face a lot of censorship around the world, revealing that the UN is in touch with Twitter officials.
Several high-profile journalists with accounts on Twitter who cover the platform's updates and those of its owner, Elon Musk, were suspended on Thursday for doxxing - publishing private information to the public such as personal info and location.
During a Twitter Space audio discussion, Musk clarified the reason behind the suspension campaign: “You doxx, you get suspended. End of story. That's it,”
This comes after Jack Sweeney, a Twitter account owner, tracked his private jet and after a "crazy stalker" clambered onto the car's hood while his small child was inside and prevented it from moving.
The Twitter account for Mastodon, which is being described as a Twitter alternative, was also suspended on Thursday evening. Journalists were not able to tweet any links to Mastodon pages, but Mastodon was trending on Twitter.
The suspended accounts include those of Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of The Intercept, Steve Herman of Voice of America, and journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann, and Tony Webster.
According to Musk, these are the result of Twitter's new rules prohibiting tracking private jets, in response to a tweet from VP of venture capital firm Founders Fund Mike Solana. Solana pointed out that the now-suspended accounts had published links to track jets.
"Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not," Musk said in a tweet.
Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
In his tweet, he continued: "my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service."
Initially, in early November, 'Chief Twit' said he wouldn't be banning the account tracking his private jet, but he suspended the account after a stalker followed the car that had his son 'X' in it.
